Microphone mounting for hearing aids



Jan. 3l, 1956 R. l.. GEIE ET AL MICROPHONE MOUNTING FOR HEARING AIDS Filed July 26, 1950 Il r fe :Si:

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United States Patent C 2,733,362 MICROPHNE MOUNTING FOR HEARING AIDS Robert L. Geil) and Harold S. Wiley, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to The Maico Company, Incorporated, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application July 26, 1950, Serial No. 175,896 1 Claim. (Cl. 179-107) Our invention relates to a novel microphone for electronic hearing aids and novel means for securing same to the garment of the wearer remote from the electronic reproducer.

The primary object of our invention is the provision of a microphone for electronic hearing aids which may be quickly attached to the garment of the wearer in any desired position so as to get a maximum extent of the desired signal.

A further object of our invention is the provision of a highly decorative microphone for hearing aids which may be secured to the garment of the wearer remote from the hearing aid casing so as to reduce to a minimum clothing noises and the like which are necessarily incident to the housing of the microphone within a main casing.

A still further object of our invention is the provision of novel means whereby the wires or other electrical conductors leading up to the microphone may be concealed on the underside of the garment of the wearer.

A still further object of our invention is the provision of a device of the class above described which is relatively inexpensive to produce, highly pleasing in appearance, easy to attach and detach to the garment of the wearer, and which is durable in use.

The above and still further objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent from the following detailed specification, appended claim, and attached drawings.

Referring to the drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section of our novel structure, illustrating its position on a garment;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of our novel structure, some parts thereof being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a view in rear elevation; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in section taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Referring with greater particularity to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a cup-like casing having a forwardly projected open end 2, side walls 3, and rear wall 4. Snugly secured within the casing 1 is a microphone 5, preferably, and as shown, nested within a rubber grommet or the like 6. A perforate grill member 7 overlies the open end of the casing 1 and the entire assembly is held in relatively stationary relationship by a cover element, identified by the numeral 8 and comprising a decorative plate 9 which overlies the perforate grill member 7, an inturned upper end portion 10, and inturned side walls 11 defining opposed channels adapted to slidably receive said casing 1 therein.

As shown, a pair of anchoring pins 12 extend through the rear wall 4 of the casing 1 and project laterally outwardly therefrom. Within the casing 1, electrical conrice duit means 13 connect the microphone 5 to the terminal internal ends 14 of the anchoring pins 12. ln outwardly spaced relation to the rear wall 4 of the casing 1, the anchoring pins 12 are provided with down turned portions 15 which are substantially parallel to each other and to said rear wall 4. At their extreme outer ends, the anchoring pins are pointed, as indicated at 16, to facilitate insertion through the garment X of the wearer. Adapted to receive the anchoring pins 12 on the opposite side of the garment of the wearer from the casing 1, is a female connector socket 17.

Yielding means in the nature of generally U-shaped spring clips 18 are interposed between the rear wall 4 of the casing 1 and the down turned end portions 15 of the anchoring pins 12. The opposite ends of the spring clips 13 are inserted through vertically spaced openings 19 and 2i) in the rear wall 4 of the casing 1 and the angularly disposed feet 21 and 22 thereof are caused to engage the rubber grommet 6.

As shown in Fig. 1, when the anchoring pins 12 are caused to penetrate the garment of the wearer and the socket 17 is caused to be inserted thereover on the opposite side of the material X, the material X is caused to be frictionally gripped between the connector 17 and the spring clip 18. Thus the microphone assembly is not only held in a secure position, but also is held free from any undesired frictional movements of the same with respect to the garment X. However, it should be noted that even in the event that the connector 17 becomes accidentally disconnected from the anchoring pins 12 on the inside of the garment X, said microphone assembly will not become lost by virtue of the hook-like shape of the anchoring pins 12.

Our invention has been thoroughly tested and found to be completely satisfactory for the accomplishment of the objectives set forth; and while we have shown and described a commercial embodiment thereof, it should be obvious that the same is capable of modification without departure from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the claim.

What we claim is:

In a device of the class described, a casing having a forwardly-projected open end and a rear wall, a microphone within said casing, a pair of laterally-spaced anchoring pins extending through the rear wall of said casing and projecting laterally-outwardly therefrom, electrical conduit means connecting the inner ends of said anchoring pins with said microphone, said anchoring pins having downturned outer end portions which are substantially parallel to each other and to the plane of the rear wall of the casing, female connector socket means adapted to receive said anchoring pins and make electrical connection therewith, and spring means interposed between the yrear wall of the casing and the downturned portions of said anchoring pins whereby to frictionally gripy a portion of the garment of the wearer therebetween and said socket means, said spring means comprising a pair of generally U-shaped spring clips one each associated with one of Said anchoring pins and having one each of their opposite ends anchored in the rear wall of said casing.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 313,726 Haid Mar. 10, 1885 466,725 Miltimore Jan. 5, 1892 622,328 Collins Apr. 4, 1899 1,318,874 Hooghiemstra Oct. 14, 1919 1,666,729 Biek et al Apr. 17, 1928 

